This is apropos of Awais Aftab’s article ‘Our collective psychopathology’ (Sept 27), wherein the writer commented on and diagnosed the dilemmas of our nation’s collective psychology. His proposition – can a society collectively be said to suffer from something akin to a ‘mental illness’? – is tenable from a scientific point of view. The sad events of killings and ransacking at the occasion of the Ishq-e-Rasool Day are clear proof that our society is suffering from a collective psychosis. The day which otherwise should have been observed to mark the Prophet’s teachings about denunciation of hatred and promotion of religious tolerance and empathy was turned into a day of mourning and grief as a result of violent deaths of several people and huge loss to public and private property. The way our people behaved on the day in question has made us a laughing stock in the comity of nations. Does a nation which goes on a rampage on a day which should have been observed to exhibit solidarity and unity need any external enemy to destabilise it?

Ours is a polarised society divided far apart by two extremes. At one extreme is the self-righteous segment which terms everything happening in the world as an anti-Islam conspiracy while at the other extreme is the so-called liberal and secular section which takes no time in raising a hue and cry at an isolated act of violence by Muslims and places the blame for it on the entire community. This segment largely remained silent on the sacrilegious movie. The intelligentsia needs to play a positive and constructive role to put the nation on the right direction.

Muhammad Asghar Shaheen

Karachi